Physician Communication & Wellness Support

• 1-Hour, Private, On-Line Sessions  (preferably away from work environment)
• Convenient, Flexible Scheduling  (days, evenings, weekends) 
• Confidential Conversations  (speak freely, process & debrief challenges confidentially)

• 7 Sessions Over 3 Months (scheduled at your convenience)
• Samples of All Coaching Areas: Communication, Self-Care, Professional Resilience 
• Continuing Modules on Targeted Topics Available Monthly After Intro

• Month-to-Month Scheduling,  No Long-Term Commitment
• 2-3 Sessions Per Month   (scheduled at your convenience)
• Targeted Topics   (specific skills for challenging situations, customized for individual)
• Group Programs or Private Clients Accepted

Evidence-based approaches for more satisfying professional and personal interactions.

We respect your experience as a physician, and recognize that everyone has a personal style of communication.  Our program builds on your strengths, and offers practical ideas based on validated research and the experience of other doctors.  You may find these skills make communication more effective and satisfying with patients, co-workers, and at home-- because communication skills are life skills.

Some patients have trouble comprehending important information, even when physicians do their best to communicate clearly. These sessions teach specific skills that build patient comprehension, to increase adherence and improve clinical outcomes.  

Patients exposed to these techniques report that their doctor explained things in a way they could understand.  Physicians who develop these communication habits report increased satisfaction and feelings that they were able to ‘get through’ to patients more effectively.

• Enhancing Language Clarity
• Effective Teach-Back
• Connecting Through Interpretation
• Delivering Serious News
• Advance Care Planning

Physicians may listen to every word, yet the patient doesn’t feel their doctor was listening.  These sessions teach habits to help patients recognize that you’re listening carefully. 

When patients feel respected and heard, they’re more likely to follow advice that affects their clinical outcome.  Physicians practicing these key behaviors have also reported that they improve communication in other areas of life.

• How to Help Someone Feel Heard
• Creating a Joint Agenda
• Care Signaling
• Responding to Emotion
• Managing Unrealistic Expectations
• Communication During Physical Exam

Some people present behavioral challenges that complicate efforts to provide good clinical care. These sessions practice skills to deal with challenging conversations in a way that’s efficient and satisfying.  

Patients and family benefit from skillful direction when these circumstances come up, and can be helped to re-align decisions and behaviors.  Physicians feel more confident and better prepared when they have tools to make challenging conversations more effective and satisfying.

• Conflict, Compassion and Boundaries
• Conversation Exit Strategies
• Empathetic Behaviors that Connect
• Discussing Health Behaviors
• Effective Family Conferences
• Goals of Care Communication

Practical ways to manage stress in the moment, and support long-term wellbeing.

Consistently managing smaller episodes of stress in the moment has beneficial long-term effects.  Coaching lets us practice self-care techniques in advance, so the habit will come easily when we need a skillful response to stress.  Learning to use long-term processes and systems of self-care can further strengthen our well-being and happiness.  

We'll practice a series of validated techniques to discharge stress in the moment and engage the parasympathetic nervous system instead of holding on to tension.

Brief reflective exercises can calm feelings of anxiety or anger, prevent escalation of emotions, and facilitate clearer decisions. Learning to use reflective metaphors can help to process stress.

This 3-step system can help to calm intrusive thoughts and use evidence-based processes to shift to a positive focus, which is useful for short and long-term self-care.  

Coaching to enhance professional satisfaction and address challenging work environments.

Strategies are needed to maintain resilience in a stressful work environment.  Even when we cannot control the elements causing stress, we can use processes that build, sustain and energize our capacity to manage it.  

Personal mission and passion in medicine can go through many phases during a career., but it doesn't have to erode with the pressures of workplace stress.  Specific coaching can build, sustain and energize your professional vision, and challenge you to move toward your own greater good. 

When personal values conflict with workplace demands the result can be demoralizing.  Coaching explores strategies to expand a personal sense of competence, relatedness and autonomy.  These elements of self-determination are critical in addressing the moral mis-match many experience in their work environment.

Grounded in neuropsychology research and backed by literature in organizational and personal  development, this module explores a variety of strategies to support resilience.  Using inventory tools, rich language exercises, and personal assessment processes, coaching can help you define what's important to you and use it to leverage professional resilience.